


Things Unsaid

by White Aster (white_aster)



Category: Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, M/M, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-12-13
Updated: 2006-12-13
Packaged: 2017-10-05 19:28:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/white_aster/pseuds/White%20Aster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A bit of speculation, if Advent Children had ended a bit differently for the triplets.</p><p><i>He doesn't think of them as untouchable now, though.  Not when he's seen them change so much, each of them moving away from Sephiroth in their own way.  </i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Things Unsaid

He used to think that they were untouchable. Not that they couldn't be touched, but because it would just be...wrong to. They all looked too much like Sephiroth, too much pale skin and icy hair and mako-green cat-eyes. Cloud would never be able to see anyone with that coloring and not unconsciously think of deadly power and threat. (Even Loz. Anyone who thinks that Loz is too heavily-built to be Sephiroth hasn't fought the General. Loz is just the same strength built a bit shorter.) They all looked cold, serpentine, remote, like something that would freeze you if you touched it, or maybe just consider whether you looked tasty enough to bite.

He doesn't think of them as untouchable now, though. Not when he's seen them change so much, each of them moving away from Sephiroth in their own way. They touch everyone now, having slowly broken down that fear they used to have about contaminating or being contaminated, or about hurting or being hurt. Loz swings the children around and tosses them up into the air when they want to play and goes down laughing under a pile of kids when they gang up on him. Kadaj is more selective, but he doesn't even threaten to kill Reno anymore when Reno tries to cop a feel. Yazoo has stopped caring if his hand brushes a patron's when he slides over a drink, or takes money from the patrons, or carries something out onto the floor and has to brush past people. And Yazoo, who perhaps looks the most like Sephiroth, chops his hair off when it gets any longer than the middle of his back, and he'll wear it pulled back in a tail or braid now more often than not.

They are a part of the world now, rather than apart from it. Fellow creators rather than destroyers. People with things that make them smile and laugh and frown just like everyone else. People invested so much in the world that they LIKE it there.

It makes Cloud...relax. It makes him not tense up whenever they walk into the room. It makes him see them as who they are rather than who they look like.

And he's beginning to think that that might be a bad thing. Because they each have their charm. Kadaj's earnest desire to please and his fierce protective streak. Yazoo's quiet competence and sly humor. Loz's ease with the kids and his innocent joy in the sheer act of being alive.

They do things that make Cloud's breath catch, for reasons that have nothing to do with Sephiroth. Like the time that one of the less-loved regulars looked like he was going to rough up his girl, and Loz had stepped in and grabbed the guy's hand in midswing and just held him there, fist in the air, while he explained earnestly, patiently, and in small words, why family was good and why you shouldn't hurt your family. Like the way that everytime it rains Kadaj will stand in it and smile up at the clouds, letting himself get soaked unless someone drags him inside. Like the time that Tifa had lost her grip on a tray of clean glasses when someone pushed back their chair too fast, and Yazoo had reached out, apparently without thinking, and caught the tray, jigging all the glasses back into balance on it faster than the eye could follow.

And Cloud watches them. He can't help it. Out of the black leathers and into more normal clothing makes it WORSE, not better. Kadaj lounging about in sweatpants and a sweatshirt a size too big for him makes Cloud's eyes catch on the delicate, perfect arch of his feet and the length of his neck. Loz at the door in tight t-shirt and jeans makes Cloud watch the play of muscle over his back as he crosses his arms, the ripple in his thighs as he shifts his weight from one foot to the other. Yazoo can be in anything and Cloud's eyes are drawn to the deft cleverness of his hands and the fall of his hair, following the slither of the braid, the sweep of the strands across his shoulders.

They're beautiful, and somedays Cloud catches them watching him, too. They never try to hide it, or if they do, they don't do it particularly well. Kadaj has always watched him with that avid, almost indiscriminate hunger in his eyes, and Loz couldn't hide anything he was feeling in a dark room with an hour's headstart. Yazoo is a bit of a barometer, though. He will watch, sometimes, and keep watching for a long, calculated second before letting his eyes slide away, clearly saying, "I see you, and I want you to see me seeing you, but I won't make an issue of it."

Cloud has to wonder about that, because they never approach him. Rather in the same way that he never approaches them. Maybe they don't want things to change that much. Maybe they aren't sure how to go about it. Maybe they are afraid of rejection. Maybe they see him as untouchable, too.

All of these things come to mind, but once he starts watching them watching him, Cloud sees even more. A slight pause after they say good night, when all three will watch him, before they go up the stairs. At first he thinks that it is just some strange social tic of theirs, to wait to see if he has anything else to say before they leave. Then he begins to wonder if maybe they are waiting for another reason. Giving him a chance to say or do something.

The thought bothers him, makes him very aware of that pause every night. He even, for awhile, tries to avoid being around at that time, so he doesn't have to hear it. It doesn't matter, though, because even the thought of why he is avoiding Seventh Heaven at that time of night reminds him of what he is trying to avoid. And when he stops avoiding it, they just start doing it again, as if they don't know what he'd been doing. "Good night, Cloud. ..."

That pause intimidates him. Things unsaid always do.

"Good night, Cloud. [do you want to join us?]"

He spends the whole night working his way through a bottle of something clear and foul-tasting the night he realizes that he is considering saying "yes".

He rationalizes to himself why it wouldn't be a good idea, then rationalizes why it wouldn't hurt, then starts all over again, until the argument eats at its own tail.

"Good night, Cloud."

"Good night."

"Good night!"

Cloud looks up.

Loz is standing on the stairs, smiling, leaning on the railing in the way that Tifa always scolds him for. Kadaj stands on the second step, half-turned to follow him up. Yazoo puts his foot on the first step and looks back at Cloud.

The three of them all pause, watching him, and for once the patient, hopeful light in their identical green eyes isn't disturbing.

The pause goes on longer than usual, and it takes Cloud a moment before he realizes that it is because he's stood up.

One step, then another, and then all the others follow, easier than he'd expected.

~End


End file.
